GE has helped decrease the plant’s water footprint by improving efficiency at the site’s cooling tower, implementing a water treatment programme that included GenGard chemistry and a new dosing system to help reduce chloride concentration in the intake cooling water. This increase in efficiency allowed the plant to reduce fresh water intake by 91,000m3 per year, achieving a 20% reduction in water usage in the cooling water, the equivalent to the amount of water consumed by 650 average Dutch households.
“The project is in line with DuPont’s sustainability efforts that include a commitment to reducing water consumption by at least 30% over the next 10 years at manufacturing sites where fresh water supply is either scarce or limited,” said Gordon P Tait, site manager of DuPont Dordrecht. “In addition to supporting our sustainability goals, this technology will allow us to run a more efficient operation and will help us protect critical assets from corrosion, deposition and biological fouling.”
GE also improved safety at the site by reducing acid deliveries by truck from 130 to only 15 per year, also reducing CO2 emissions. This is due to GenGard which offers the capability to use lower-quality water in the cooling process while avoiding corrosion and fouling problems.
GE has awarded DuPont an ecomagination Leadership Award to recognise the company for its noteworthy reductions in water consumption, chemicals and waste using GE technology. This is the second time this DuPont facility received such a distinction.
“ With a bottom line financial return to DuPont of US$175,000 from this project, the company proved that water conservation also can have a positive impact on operational costs,” said Jeff Fulgham, chief sustainability officer – water and process technologies for GE Power & Water.
